"The non-retail asset side of the balance sheet should be run down to a level safely funded whilst interim funding gaps are plugged, using for example the Bank of England's special liquidity scheme. This would be in everyone's interest."

Others who have questioned the wisdom of the HBOS takeover deal include:

Sir Donald Mackay, the chairman of the Scottish Mortgage Trust; Sir George Mathewson, a former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland; Sir Peter Burt, a former governor and chief executive of Bank of Scotland; Keith Skeoch, the chief executive of Standard Life Investments; and David Alexander, the owner of Edinburgh-based property firm DJ Alexander; analysts from JP Morgan and Société Générale.

1. A leading City figure, Keith Skeoch, the chief executive of Standard Life Investments, has suggested there has been an abuse of the stock market market rules in the case of HBOS.

Keith Skeoch said there had been a delay before the talks were formally announced.

Stock market rules insist that companies in advanced talks should make a formal announcement to the stock exchange, with trading in their shares being suspended.

If news of the talks been announced earlier, HBOS shares would not have crashed.

And, if HBOS had survive until Thursday night, when news of the United States government's plan to buy toxic debt was announced, the bank could still be independent.

Mr Skeoch in a BBC Radio 4 interview said: "I think we should be asking ourselves who was in the possession of that information and why it wasn't released to the market and why it was made available to the market via the BBC."

2. A source at the Bank of England has said that the Bank of England had sufficient funds to help HBOS stay independent.

The source suggested the deal was a "purely commercial decision" and nothing to do with HBOS's survival.

The Gordon Brown government waived competition rules only because it claimed this was about HBOS's survival.

3. Archie Kane, the chief executive of Scottish Widows (owned by Lloyds TSB) said "This deal was done for commercial reasons. We would not have got into the situation otherwise. We operate on behalf of our shareholders, we do the best thing for our key stakeholders."

4. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) failing to stop the practice of short-selling in time to save HBOS. Why?

5. The SNP MSP Alex Neil, a former economic consultant, is demanding an inquiry into the alleged abuse of the market.

He said: "It appears that there has been a serious breach of stock market rules, which must be investigated...

"If what appears to be coming out of the Bank of England is true, and this was a purely commercial decision, then we have to ask why HBOS is being sold. If it is true it needed to be rescued, then both the Bank of England and FSA failed HBOS."

6. The UK Shareholders Association (UKSA) has said that HBOS appeared to be profitable.

It said that if indeed it was a "good deal" for HBOS shareholders to sell the bank at about the current market price, the directors had a lot of explaining to do.

There are doubts whether HBOS shareholders will back the merger.

A spokesman for the UKSA, said: "Only if HBOS shareholders receive an adequate explanation that convinces them that a sale of the bank was essential should they approve the takeover by voting for it."

"We're hearing that tomorrow's Financial Times will write a piece about HBOS. It won't be pretty, likely to focus on £128billion of non-customer liabilities that must be rolled in the next three months. This will raise the spectre of a run on the bank."

Gordon Brown and the London and Washington establishments do not want Scotland to become a successful independent country.

Has there been an Establishment plot to destroy HBOS and thus weaken Scotland?

The Bank of Scotland began in 1695 and later became known as HBOS.

On 18 September 2008, it was announced HBOS is to be 'taken over' by an English bank, Lloyds TSB.

On 17 september 2008, the Financial Services Authority declared that HBOS was still "a well-capitalised bank that continues to fund its business in a satisfactory way." (HBOS: The questions that must be answered)

The Guardian described Manning as Britain's 'national security adviser' ". The BBC said that Manning was "head of the cabinet office defence and overseas secretariat" and was already "well known and respected in the White House".

Blank

Sir Victor Blank is the chairman of Lloyds Halifax which now includes what used to be the Bank of Scotland (HBOS).

Blank is the first Jew to chair a major UK clearing bank, Lloyds Halifax.

Blank is involved with the Labour Friends of Israel and is a governor of Tel Aviv University.

He is a promoter of business links between the UK and Israel. (Cached)

Blank is a member of the Jewish Leadership Council, which promotes Jewish interests.

Other members of the Jewish leadership Council include: Sir Ronald Cohen, Lord Janner and Lord Levy.

Blank was chairman of UJS (Union of Jewish Students) Hillel, an organisation which supports Jewish students.

Reportedly, the Union of Jewish Students is a zionist organization. (Cached)

He said that financial regulators should have acted to prevent the speculative attack.

HBOS is to merge with Lloyds TSB after its share price plummeted.

A union has warned the merger could be "catastrophic" for the 17,000 HBOS staff based in Scotland

Salmond said the financial regulators the Financial Services Authority left HBOS vulnerable to speculative attack by failing to act.

He said HBOS was properly funded and had a good capital ratio.

"I am very angry that we can have a situation where a bank can be forced into a merger by basically a bunch of short-selling spivs and speculators in the financial markets," he said.

"We should not have situations where well capitalised, properly funded financial institutions are subject to incredible speculative attack, and that drives them into decision making which they otherwise might not have done.

"You have got to put the hems on that sort of activity, otherwise we will have a succession of companies going through the same process. All financial regulators have got to wake up to where we are at the present moment."

What decisions might have been taken there about weakening Scotland and its SNP government?

Scott Reid, Deputy Business Editor of Glasgow's Herald newspaper (now American owned) reports that the chief executive and chairman of Lloyds Halifax will have the whip hand in the merged bank. (Scott Reid's blog: My part in HBOS's downfall)

Scotland will lose a major plc head office and lots of high street branches.

"Already Edinburgh, its business community, its band of lawyers, accountants and advisors will have been left reeling by the enormity of this week's events", writes Reid.

Reid mentions market murmurs of a possible HSBC/ Royal Bank of Scotland tie-up.

Reid comments: "the last person to leave Edinburgh: please turn off the light."